Friday, May 7, 2010

IIIT-B Interview

If you are just preparing for GATE, you should solve more and more questions. And for that I would recommend GKP Publisher's Question Bank. Although there are some mistakes in the book for solutions to some problems, but I recommend this book solely for the huge collection of problems it has.

On the destined date I reached Bangalore for my IIIT-B interview. Bangalore is quite a happening city. Contrary to the fact pointed out by my acquaintances that you will have language problems in Bangalore, everyone seemed to understand Hindi and English. On 5th morning at 7AM I boarded a bus from Majestic for Electronics City. It took around 45 minutes for the AC Volvo called Vayu Vajra by BMTC, to churn out 15KMs, traffic being a bottleneck. I was greeted by the Electronics City flagship Infosys campus. It is very huge and a live example of engineering and architectural excellence. After asking a few passers-by about the where-abouts of IIIT-B we finally found the campus which has an HP go-down(housed in Infosys campus) in its front, Siemens to the left, Infosys to the front right. As I entered the campus I noticed a gathering of several GATE qualified padhaku students. I took an stroll around the campus with inquisitive eyes, and then entered into the academic block from the rear!!! As I entered inside, I was awestruck at the beauty of the interior. After I detected my goof, I went to the main entrance and got my attendance marked. Then I was directed to head towards Main Class Room 106. There, lots of students and their guardians were seated, and catered by the student volunteers. The main class room had four large projected screens and the student volunteers were running presentations about the college on them and helping the candidates with the interview process. They were all very co-operative. Some YouTube videos were also being played. The internet connectivity through WiFi was extremely fast there and I saw a 4 minute video getting buffered in less than 30 seconds.
At around 12 I went for my documents verification and was then carried to the interview place. There were around 20 cabins in which 20 people were interviewing the candidates. After a couple of minutes I was directed towards a cabin. I asked for the permission to enter and went into the chamber. The man inside offered me a seat, I thanked and seated myself onto the chair.
My interview session lasted for around 15-20 minutes. The first thing he asked me was: Tell me about yourself for three minutes. I started off with the by hearted answer that consisted of Name, Location, Schooling, Current activity, Hobbies and Interests in that order. Instead of 3 minutes, I ran out of data in 1 minute only!!!
Then he asked me about my blog, about which I had stated in the hobbies category. I spoke. He cross-questioned, how many followers do you have? I said two, as of now, but I receive 100+ unique visitors per day according to log stats. He asked me why don't you concentrate on converting visitors to followers? I said, I didn't have this idea earlier, my main motto was to acquaint people with my experiences with computers, but now as you have told me I'll concentrate on this thing too.
Then he asked me. Ok, start with the technical topic you have prepared and continue for five minutes. I started off with my Socket Communication topic and explained things bringing everything down to basic level. During the course of describing the UDP server I forgot something and stopped, then asked him for a few seconds to recall and reorganize all the data inside my brain. He gave me time and after 3 seconds I resumed.
After I finished, he said you can communicate well, but not because you have a very good command over spoken english but because you have a deep understanding of the topic you are explaining. I said yes sir, my mothertongue is not english and I have spoken english very little so I don't have very good command over spoken english. He told, who says you can't speak? You spoke perfectly well. Communication means when you speak socket, I should hear it as socket not ice cream! I agreed!
Then he started looking at my academics. He said you're having nice academics. Your GATE score of 614 and marks 42.33 is very high and you're probably in the 98th percentile. I said yes, 98.59 to be precise. He said, it is a very good score. I replied, not very good but it is just fine, I could have scored 60+ if only I hadn't made those silly mistakes which I realized while matching the solutions on v-day evening. Then he said, which subjects you were most excited about in your B.Tech. I replied DBMS and Networking. He said, ok you've been given a table, can you say whether it is in third normal form and if it is not, then can you convert it in 3NF? Backed with my expertise in Functional Dependencies & Normalization I said, yeah with hundred percent surety, and proceeded ahead.
After this he asked me, how do you spend your time. I said, I am not into arts so no music, no singing. But I play chess, do some photography and most of the extra time I spend managing my site. Then he asked me about the site. I explained about IndiFun using the word Mobile Social Networking. He stressed on the phrase and said me to explain it. I explained about GPRS and tiny browsers and mobile markup languages. He said, how does this site connect people. I narrated all the features of IndiFun like an advertiser!!!!
Then he said, according to your academics and your extra-curricular activities you are a very deserving candidate. I would love to have you here. But the interview is a very tiny part of the whole selection process. My best wishes for you.
And said, if you have any questions then ask me. I asked, please tell me about yourself. He said, I run a company called Radix Learning which works with IIIT-B and also I teach here data structures in PGDSD course, not in M.Tech course. I said, I would like to keep in touch with you after I get selected. He said no! I don't interact with M.Tech students!
After that he said go happy, you seem to be a very promising candidate. I thanked him, shook hands and left the cabin.
Some photos that I took, follow:

I wanted to know why u have preferred for iiit A instead of iiit B? I am applying for the IIIT B this year through last year's gate score 642.I wanted to know whether it's a good one or not.Actually last year because of some health problems i am not able to attend the interview last year

There were three main reasons why I preferred IIIT-A over IIIT-B.1. Google, Microsoft etc. don't visit IIIT-B for placements, but visit IIIT-A.2. IIIT-A is a government college, IIIT-B is private.3. In IIIT-A we get Rs.8000 per month stipend, but there is no stipend at IIIT-B.

But as of now, my views have changed because I know whats going on at IIIT-B from some of my links who are studying there; and I know whats going on here at IIIT-A becaue I am studying here.As per my new perception:1. The faculty at IIIT-B is top class and far better than IIIT-A.2. IIIT-A is sinking day by day in politics and corruption. The director of IIIT-B is a great man. He is very involved in the institute and taking it to new heights.3. M.Techs are not allowed to sit in some key companies like Microsoft, Cisco(only M.Tech WCC allowed) and Adobe(75%+ in B.Tech and M.Tech SE only) placements here at IIIT-A. However, Google allows us :)4. In IIIT-B you can do an internship in last semester and earn as much as you paid for the fees. So stipend factor is nullified.

But there is one field in which IIIT-A is far far far far better than IIIT-B. And that is infrastructure. Every student is provided a personal computer for two years in the lab here. The internet is awesomeness here!!!! No bandwidth caps and practically speeds touching upto 68.5Mbps(i.e. 8+mega bytes per second) mark. If you are a self study(from online lectures) lover then it is a great advantage at IIIT-A

I got a call from IIIT B to attend the interview on 5th of may, actually the interviews will start from 4th.I heard that for around 150 seats nearly 600+ students will be called.I wanted to know whether they are giving the dates based on the merit or randomly. Actually mine gate score is 642. what will be my chances of getting there?

Thanx for ur reply prabhakar, Is there any orkut communities regarding the IIIT B interview experience? My date of interview was given as 5th may which is the second day of the entire interview process,I wanted to know on what basis they are giving the interview dates,is it based on merit or randomly?

Prab,your blog is really informative. 'm monika from chennai. my gate score is 477 my marks are 37.33 and i got 95.67 percentile. i got a call from iiit-b for an interview. could you please tel me if i stand a good chance der and i also want to know if i can make a presentation for my technical topic regarding my project during the interview. pls do tell me how far can i hope getting into iiit -b

Prab,your blog is really informative. 'm monika from chennai. my gate score is 477 my marks are 37.33 and i got 95.67 percentile. i got a call from iiit-b for an interview. could you please tel me if i stand a good chance der and i also want to know if i can make a presentation for my technical topic regarding my project during the interview. pls do tell me how far can i hope getting into iiit -b

@Rohit Yeah there are orkut communities for IIIT-B admissions help. Search IIITB Admissions or IIIT-B admissions in orkut and you will find one. As per interview dates are concerned I believe they are set based on merit and academics which includes 10th 12th B.E. marks and also GATE score. @Monika Thank you! You may expect an admission offer if your 10th 12th B.tech marks are good AND you perform well while presenting the technical topic. Also, if u run a blog and do some extra curricular activities then your chances will be stronger! Be confident, I know a guy who had 32 marks last year in GATE and he was selected and is studying in IIIT-B. All the best to both of you!!!

thank you prab..one more doubt..do i have to prepare a ppt for my technical talk..is it necessary?..i heard they'l provide a board and a marker to explain our topic..and do suggest me with few very important points which i have to keep in mind in order to crack the interview.

No, you don't need to prepare any PPT. You may use the whiteboard and marker if you wish. I didn't need it for my technical talk.The only thing to keep in mind to crack the interview is to be confident and positive. One more thing is that the topic you are presenting should be technical, not managerial or marketing related. For example: Don't take topics like Search Engine Optimization or Marketing Aspects of Social Networks. You are going to do M.Tech, not MBA. A friend of me took SEO as her topic and she was not selected despite of having very bright academics.

I just have a question , actually I have been called for interview at IIIT-B.I am thinking to explain there Basic of RTOS like how does a RTOS work and scheduling algorithms for giving priority to tasks..My concern is that is this topic too theoretical or they expect to explain them some technical concept..

hi prab,i want to know whether i can give technical seminar on "phishing"(on which i presented a paper in some event) or else is it better to choose my favourite subject "operating systems " which is a part of my btech subjects? Please guide me

Hi, nice blog sir. I got a call for the interview after clearing the entrance exam and not through GATE. I am a fresher with a good academic record. What are my chances? Roughly how many entrance exam candidates do they select sir?

@edaroDon't worry whether u came through GATE or entrance exam. If you have bright acads and perform well in the interview, and also have some cool extra curricular activities then you are sure to get inside.

@mohitLast year the cut off for written test and interview was between 3500 and 4000 rank

Thanks so much for giving us so much of information and I really appreciate you for taking time in replying to our comments. Thank you!

Can you shed some light on me, regarding the kind of topics to choose, whether to choose from academics or to choose a topic in general like "website and its availability", because my main and mini projects relate somewhat to website's uptime.

I'm not so good at coding, will this have a negative impact on selection?

If the seat remain vacant after 1st lot of admission r they call student for 2nd lot?actually i have 82.13%in10th,69% in 12th and 79% in B.Tech but no GATE score and they have not select me after interview which held on 5th may and published result on 11th may.Is there any hope that they call me afterwards?

worked in TCS for 10 months 2010passout. As of now not having any job in hand. filling forms of DAIICTE,BITSpilani,IIIT-hyd,bang,allah

My prime focus is good placement,

what should be the list of coll that i shud target, and many pple are asking y m not preparing for GRE, to be frank i do not have ans {apart from the fact i am not good in mugging words}A typical type of dilemma I am in.If u can help

had posted the same at http://www.techbite.in/2011/05/mtech-cs-admissions-through-gate.html?

what kind of technical explanation they expect...??i mean i'am making an operating system as my final year project.so can i explain how it works in interview?? will it be a good idea??...instead of a topic from a book.

I have applied for IIIT B M.Tech 2012 intake.I am a 2011 passed out with 88%in 10th,85% in 12th and 75 in B.Tech(Electrical).I don't have a GATE score and have applied for Entrance exam of IIIT B.What will be my chances of getting into IIIT B if I clear the Entrance exam???Please reply me

hi prabhakar, i become exempt frm entrance exam i got 98.5%ile .but i am afraid about my final yr project bcoz i did not do well in project.so how much they stress on project,one more Q. I know only C programming which kind of question can i expect i mean which kind of program they can ask ?Pls replyRegardsNishank

Hi Prabhaker, I didn't write GATE but IIIT-B Waiver Exam. I have got the interview call from IIT-B. I have one year work experience plus not-bad academic records( 86 in 10th , 72 in 12th and 79 in B.Tech). Do GATE candidate get preference over Waiver candidates. how much weightage they give to each field(academy , score , work-ex , interview , extra-carricular) ???

Hi prabhakar,I'm Ram.your blog is really informative.I got call letter for attending interview.I got through entrance exam.I didnt give gate.My cgpa is low(as of now 6.1/10,till 7th sem)I'm doing my B.tech from amrita university.I had 4 backlogs (i cleared them).My 10th percentage is 83% & 12th is 89%.I got job in HCL.I'm not sure that, can i get through this interview with this CGPA.will it work for me,if i do my presentation well??i'm worried about my b.tech percentage.

Hi Prabhakar,Thank you so much for this valuable information. I got the interview call for 2nd May i.e.,the first day of interview, after clearing the entrance exam. My question is regarding the technical presentation. Can I give a talk on my final year project which was intranet search engine(File search and web search), including the general concepts of crawlers, parsing and indexing. Please do reply... Thank you

Hi Prabhakar,Thank you so much for this valuable information.I got the interview call for IIIB on 3rd May .MY Gate Score is 591.For this Gate Score which is the best Institute to apply.My Focus is mainly on Placement in Major Companies and Stipend. Please do reply... Thank you

hello sir, i have been following your thread since i too have got a call for interview at iiit,b . my cgpa is 7.2 and i got a gate waiver ..though i did not score that well in gate exam.. my air was 8000 .. i have interest in robotics .. my major and minor projects were related to eletronics ... but i am a student of information tech. .. i just know concepts of electronics in layman's language and not technical.. so if i give a presentation in robotics .. there are possibilities of counter questioning on the same topic which i wnt be able to answer in technical terms.. so will it be wise to choose such topic or other topic which i thought of giving presentation was data mining (course related).. which would be a better option???...and is there counter questioning on the presentation .. :) also with this gate air and cgpa .. do i stand any position ? 10th board 84.4 and 12th 80.4... i have done two live projects... and in all 4 projects ...

hi prab:I got an interview call from iiitb on 2 may 2012. My academic details are as following:B.tech branch -electronics and communication(2008)Btech percentage-78%12th-72%10th-73%Gate2011-:score-495 rank-5234Work ex-18months from IITKANPUR as project associate in electrical department.I want to ask you what are my chances to get thru in iiitb ? and also will they ask from my work ex? Thanks in advance.

Hi sir,I have got a interview call frm iiit-b i have a gate score2012 of 476 with 10th-79.6%,12th-73%,btech-70.42%.I am from ECE branch and wanted your help to know that how can i show my interest in computers to the interviewer as i have learned c and c++ in short term courses but i am not very gud at it but i am really looking forward for the selection in iiit-b please if u have any ideas regarding this then do help me, i have my interview on 2nd may.Regards,Mini

Thanks for your reply.. My interview is on 2nd of may. I would like to know about the interview? Do they ask from any subject or questions related to the presentation only??? What is the main sutra to crack the interview???

i from CSEBtech percentage-67%12th-85%10th-89%i cleared the iiitb entrance exam.my interview on 4th may.what are my chances for the selection of interview.my new GRE score is 302(quant-163,verb-139).but i got interview call letter through entrance exam.can i mention score on interview?what type of topics can i prepare for interview?plzz clarify my doubts.

Im from ECE background and got selected thru online exam. I mentioned in the interview that want to do m.tech in communication(mainly wireless). What r my chances ? i hav a low GATE and GRE scores but my acads r pretty strong

hello.. i am sreeraag, i got admission for mtech at IIIT B..And let me tell u, your blog was really helpful and played a key part of my preparation for the interview.. thank u so much.

I have a question to ask . I was also shortlisted for IIIT hyd interview and i have that interview on 22nd june whereas i have to confirm my admission by june 1st here in IIITB by paying 60000 non refundable. What's ur say on my situation.?Can i go forward with IIITB by foregoing IIITH?

@Sreeraag If I were you I would go forward with IIIT-B. Anyways IIIT-H is very good for B.Tech but not as good for M.Tech.

@Sagar Welcome! But you can't see me in Bangalore. I am studying in IIT Madras(Chennai) :P

@{Everyone else whom I couldn't reply}Apologies for not replying timely, since I was quite busy. And replying now won't be meaningful because the results have been already declared and now you know your position already. All the best!

Thanks buddy for the wonderful blog post and the follow up comments. Got through my interview and have a admission letter with me.

My interview was on 3rd May. It was extremely short (only 10mins) . There weren't any formal introductions so I really don't know who was my interviewer. He was really calm and straight-forward. I was asked to give my presentation. I had prepared on Scheduling (OS). He asked questions mainly regarding how this problem is currently handled by an OS (he said whatever you are telling me is correct and fine but is way outdated, so I had to pitch in with whatever I had read apart from the standard OS books). He stopped my presentation in between and then he asked why I want to leave my current job and some other general questions. After that he asked me to leave.

I was the last one to be interviewed before lunch, so I am not sure if that was the reason for the extremely short interview.

Overall I wasn't sure I'll make it till I got the mail.

Thanks Prabhakar.

I hope joining IIIT-B will be a good decision, please let me know if anyone has some other opinions on this. Thanks in advance for any comments on this. :)

I was selected in 2 companies from my college campus at 3.1 & 2.8 LPA.But i refused to join as i want to persue M.Tech.Prepared for GATE 2012 in year 2011-12.

I already applied to IIIT Bangalore for M.Tech.,got waiver for written exam & Called For Interview at 3rd May.But rejected due to lack of ability of representing my knowledge & credentials as i am not so good at Communication Skills & Spoken English.

Now i am thinking for applying in M.S. program in IIITB.

I want a institute with good placement only.As i want to go into companies like Google, Microsoft & Adobe.

I have good programming skills but poor communication skills.

What should i do?Where should i apply ?How should i prepare & all that?Please help me, whatever you can.Suggest me asap pls.

@Girish Try preparing for IIT. You can get better job without having a very good communication skill. Good companies want students for engineering positions who can get their work done instead of those who can only speak well.

@Richa For M. Tech it is better. IIIT Hyderabad is one of the best for B. Tech, better than most NITs. @lakshmi 4 was minimum and 11 was max

My son as got the IIT B admission in the integrated Dual M Tech program. He has interest in the IT field but we are somewhat hesitant because it is a new program (first time, the integrated program is being offered)..can you pl point me what are the pros and cons? thx a ton

I just need some info. I'm planning for MTech in iiit-b. I have 2+ years of work experience from Wipro and my acadamics are like 10th - 82%,12th-95%,BTech-8.2GPA. Some extra-curricular activities like winners in group dance at NIT-Warangal in 3consecutive years, Andhra Univ and few more colleges. Does these things (my acadamics, work experience, extra-curricular activities) would give me a piece of cake for getting into iiit-b?

Hello sir,GATE 2013GATE SCORE-520AIR-4252BE(ECE)-80.7% Aggregate12th -85.17%10-93.44%Authored a Research Paper Which was Presented in International Conference.Have Won and Participated in Many Extra Curricular Activities..Kindly Tell me My chances in IIIT B..Also I am from ECE ,SO Suggest some Topics for Technical Presentation.

No one is stopping you from applying. In fact I am encouraging you to apply.I just mentioned that GATE CS people will have a higher leverage than others because it is mostly CS related insti.But if you opt for a related major as you metioned(ESD) then it should be fine.All the best!

Hi , Can any one currently studying in IIIT Bangalore tell the 2013 GATE cut off rank/score in CSE that got admission in 2013. Or atleast the approximate rank till which people got admission in IIIT B. I understand that in IIIT Bangalore from 2013 onwards they are admitting solely based on GATE score and not any other exam like CBT or GRE.Thanks in advance for the reply. Please do reply.

Hi sir, your blog is very informative..My GATE 2014 Score 660rank 2526branch ECE10th 92.00%12th 87.20 %BE 8.6 (CGPA)what are my chances to get a call from IIIT-B..III-B has started new course ESD(Electronic system Design)..should I go for the new started course because we can only predict the placements of the new course...

Hello sir,this blog is really great and covers in depth info required for IIIT-B.as u may know, IIIT B started taking mtech from GATE score.so my gate info is as follows :rank 1301score 640cat genby reading many blogs and consulting many seniors,i got to know i will get IIITB for a interview call.1) i wana say honestly, m not that good at programming.i think m good at core computer science subjects.so what should be presented in the interviews as my topic.i mean any particular topic of any particular subject with in depth knowledge or any other topic??2) fee structure is too costly, but i was reading in one of the comments above that fee can be paid with the internship provided by the institute in final year.how it works?? u know as fee is 3.6 lacs for mtech(high obviously)..is there any other sources or ways out which can be helpful fetching me some financial help during my m mtech course??

Hi.I just wanted to know what can one expect from the new m.tech in ESD thats been launched in IIITB? Is the faculty good in this department or is it just making money like most private colleges in india? And moreover how will the placements be if one opts for this course? like what package can one expect?

@Rajesh Bhat: Assuming you have a bank account, just go to that bank ans tell the bank employee that you have to make NEFT payment. Then they will give you a form wherein you can opt to debit the amount from your account. Fill the form and submit to them. They will take care of it.

I have GATE Rank -1060 in ECE (2013). I have applied with that score this year (since I got worse rank 2367 in 2014). I have applied for Electronic System Design. What are the chances of me making the cut?? Will there be any interview or direct admission for MTech?

I have made the payment of Rs.1000 thru NEFT, in my Bank a/c it is showing successful. But this is not being still reflected in their site (after logging into their portal). Still status there is 'Not Paid'. Dunno how long they'll take to process it and update status (paid 2 days back)

sir my academics are not good.I have 78% in 10th,65% in 12th and 59% in B.tech.I am preparing for GATE.I want to get admission in IIIT-H.Will my academics matter if I perform good in written test and interview and get good rank in GATE?